Secret
by ShiroyukiKaji
Summary: Aida Riko and Momoi Satsuki know a secret about Kuroko that he kept even from his light, Kagami Taiga and the whole of Seirin's team. Takao Kazunari also has a secret that he did not tell his ace, Midorima Shintarou, about. What could the secret be? A Takakuro fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

It was a tough day at practice today at Seirin. Aida Riko was not a normal high school girl. Maybe she was in other aspects but she was definitely not entirely normal. Why? Because she was the coach for the Seirin's basketball team.

Lifting the whistle that was over her chest to her mouth, Riko blew it hard enough for it to catch all the members' attention. The training resume for today was tougher than usual. Dribbling, shooting, strengthening their defense, heightening their stamina and then more dribbling. The boys were all drenched with sweat, panting because of the vigorous exercises and training they just finished.

When everyone gathered around her, she made an announcement. "Alright, I know this is sudden but we have a practice match with Shutoku at the end of this week," she said as she looked from her left to right at the boys lined up in front of her. "It would be a good chance for us to learn something new in this practice and the coach for Shutoku thinks so too. So don't take lightly of this practice match, play as if you were striving to win! Do you get me?"

"Yes!" everyone replied in unison.

"Finally, another match with that bastard Midorima!" Kagami exclaimed, clearly the most excited one on court. "Just you wait, Midorima! I'm going to beat you so hard!"

Hyuuga smacked Kagami's arm when he walked past him. "Shut up! Stop shouting!" he scolded, causing Kagami to quiet down and mutter an apology, not forgetting to add in honorifics at the end of his sentence.

Kuroko, who was standing beside Kagami after that happened, walked towards the bench where his light blue towel and water bottle were. He sat on the bench and wiped off his sweat as he replenish the water content in his body. Staring into the space in front of him, he felt someone sit beside him. It was coach.

"What is it, coach?" he asked, polite as always to anyone he talks to.

She smiled at his acknowledgement of her sitting beside him. "Kuroko-kun, how are things going with him?" she asked out of concern.

Kuroko turned his head to his right to look at Riko. "It's fine though we haven't been meeting for a while now," he answered monotonously. "We're only sending mails to each other through our cell phone,"

"Was it because of practice?"

"Yes," Kuroko was no longer facing Riko, he was staring up ahead, observing Kagami getting lectured by Hyuuga with Kiyoshi there trying to calm Hyuuga down. "He said that practice has not been letting up recently and the same goes back to our practice at Seirin. So either way we're still not able to meet,"

"Do you miss him?" Riko tilted her head to the side. It was an obvious question but it did not hurt to ask.

What surprised her next was Kuroko's answer. "No," he said, without a hint of any sort of emotion.

"What? You don't?"

Kuroko only nodded.

"But why? Aren't you suppose to be missing him, wanting to see him or touch him? Isn't that the normal reaction?" confused by his answer, Riko shot questions at the poor blue haired boy. Maybe she was having thoughts like that because she read a lot of shoujo manga recently.

The blue haired boy reached for his bag and got his blue cell phone out. He flipped the screen open and pressed on the keypad with Riko eyeing him suspiciously. He showed her what was displayed on his cell phone screen. It was a picture of a raven haired guy doing a 'V' sign with his fingers and shaping his lips into a '3'.

Before Riko could comment on the picture, Kuroko clicked into the next picture where the same guy was smiling handsomely. Not only did the smile make him look sexy but there was a hint of fondness in it.

"So this was why you said no?"

"It was a joke,"

"Which is it?!" she snapped.

Kuroko flipped his cell close with his index finger, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees to support him when he hung his head, looking down at his shoes. "... I don't know," he smiled a little, sounding lonely.

"Well, if he were to not treat you properly, come talk to me! I'll—"

"Coach! We need your help here!" Koganei shouted from across the gym, cutting Riko off midsentence.

"Kuroko-kun—"

"Thank you, coach. I'll take you up with the offer if it's still available when that actually happens," Kuroko replied, knowing what Riko was meaning to say in her previous sentence. Riko smiled and patted Kuroko's shoulder in approval of his answer and to cheer him up. She turned to walk away from him while shouting back at Koganei to acquire the reason he needed her help.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : Hey there! I've started a new story after I ended my previous one 'Jealous'. I have to thank this one person who had been supporting me since my very first work up on FFN and this story idea was also provided by her! (You know who you are ;) ) Thank you for reading this till the end like always and even this kinda long author's note of mine! Please do excuse my grammar mistakes in there if there is because I've noticed a few mistakes that I have done in my previous works when I reread it. Chapter 2 will be up soon(?) I'm not sure but have a nice day! **


	2. Chapter 2

Sigh.

A second later...

Another sigh.

"Takao,"

Sigh. "What is it, Shin-chan?"

Midorima clicked his tongue at Takao as he glared down at him with his emerald green eyes through his glasses, clearly very annoyed, by what Takao did not know. He was about to open his mouth to ask about it but Midorima beat him to it. "I'm the one who is supposed to ask you what is it. Why are you sighing at every single second?" he asked the raven haired boy who was sitting on the ground, legs crossed, the top of his head leaning against the wall to look up at him.

Takao grinned, teeth showing as he said, "What is this? This is rare for Shin-chan to show me his concerns!"

"I was just asking because I was annoyed and you're the cause of it," Midorima said quickly, covering up for himself. "Now, answer my question," he said, fixing his glasses with his taped finger.

"You tsundere~!" Takao made fun of him, a hint of amusement in his voice, making it sound melodious when he said it. Still smiling from ear to ear, he answered the green haired boy while looking into his eyes. "It's nothing," his voice was quiet as he lowered his head slowly, avoiding Midorima's gaze. He was afraid that Midorima would find out about everything if he did not do that.

Takao had a secret that he kept from everyone including his ace. According to a certain someone, there was only the Seirin coach and that pinked haired girl with a huge rack from Touou Academy who knew about it. How did they come to know? Shoot, he did not even know how but based on his guesses, that certain someone might have went and consult with the coach about the secret and the other just knew from much stalking.

If you asked if Takao was okay with keeping it as a secret, he would be lying if he said yes. Everyone knew how Takao was. He could never keep a secret. Thus, after that someone successfully persuaded him into doing this, he was somehow stressed out at the fact that he had to keep it all to himself after that.

To be honest, Takao wanted to brag about it to everyone he knows really badly. Though sure, letting others know was not a problem but that depends on the person he was talking to. Those girls sure got a lot of that certain someone's trust. So much to the point it was okay to let them be. _If only I didn't give in. If only I turned the table over then so that I was on the winning side. _

Sigh.

Takao slapped his hands against his mouth to stop it from coming out but he was too late. With his hands still over his mouth, he slowly looked up at the Midorima who was silently standing beside him, observing the other basketball members practice while sipping onto his own water bottle. He forgot how long had it been since he stood there beside him. Did he hear him sigh?

There was not a single movement from Midorima. What happened? "Oi— Shin-chan— Can you hear me?" Takao waved both arms at him, still seated on the ground. Ignored. "Seriously, Shin-chan, what's wro—" he was about to question him but noticed an orange thing sticking out in his right ear from where he was sitting.

He got up onto his feet and yanked it out of Midorima's ear. There was one more stuck in his left ear but Takao let it be. "Shin-chan, why are you wearing earplugs?"

He fixed his glasses again while retrieving the earplug from Takao. "They're today's lucky item and it came in handy," he plugged them in again and not forgetting to mention, "As expected of Oha Asa,"

Sigh. "Shin-chan— Am I really that annoying?"

"Takao!"

Someone called his name from across the gymnasium, it was one of the basketball members.

"Yeah?" Takao shouted back at the same volume the member used to him.

"Coach wants us to gather around, he has something to announce apparently. Remember to grab Midorima with you, it seemed like he did not hear us,"

"Yeah, okay," he flashed a smile at him and turned back to his Shin-chan. "Shin-chan— C'mon!" he pulled out one of the earplugs again. "Coach's calling, let's go!"

"You don't have to tell me that, I know that already," Midorima replied, acting like a mister know-it-all and snatched the earplug from Takao's hand again while walking pass him. "And stop taking off my earplugs for me,"

Sigh. When was he going to see that person again? That question had been up in his mind since forever. As many could see, practice had been tough lately because Shutoku had a match coming up. It was not like they could not win, with Midorima in their team, scoring was definitely not the problem. But the coach said that they had to work more on their defenses and so here they were, still practicing at the gym when it was already 7PM.

As Takao was lost in his thoughts, he stopped his feet when he reached the crowd surrounding the coach, not paying attention to what was happening around him. He wondered what was the coach was planning to announce to them. It would be great if he could meet that person.

"— with Seirin,"

His eyes grew wide at the mention of Seirin High School. "Wh-What was that, coach? Could you say that again?" Takao quickly asked since he was not able to catch the sentence before that.

The coach let out a frustrated sigh. "Takao, why aren't you paying attention? I said that we're going to have a practice match this weekend with Seirin,"

"REALLY? Oh my god," Takao breathed out, covering his face with his hands and faced up. _The chance of meeting that person had arrived! And yes, that person is at Seirin. _Removing his hands away from his face, he did a fist pump in the air, jumping and cheering at the same time.

"Err... What happened to Takao?" some guy approached Midorima and whispered, obviously worried by his actions all of a sudden since he had been only sighing all day lately even during practice.

Midorima just hmph-ed at him as an answer to his question, leaving him extremely confused. He did not want anyone to know that even he did not have any idea what was wrong with Takao these days. The seniors would just make fun of him if they knew.

"Takao! It's time to continue practice!"

"Okay!" Takao said, hands still balled into a fist. He could not stop grinning, he bet he looked like an idi—

"You look like an idiot right now, Takao," Midorima spat at him as he walked to his side. "Let's go,"

"Gee, thanks, Shin-chan," still having a huge grin on his face, he asked, "Do I really look like an idiot?" his silvery blue eyes shinier than usual, sparkling with excitement as he looked at Midorima.

Midorima just merely stared at him in disgust. "Shin-chan— That's just mean!"

"Practice is starting, Bakao*. Stop fooling around,"

"But I'm not, ehehe," Takao laughed softly at the thought of having to practice with Seirin later in the weekend. He could not help look forward to it. Just from thinking about being able to see him after so long thrilled Takao so much it left his body tingling.

That night when Takao went back home, he opened the door into his room and flopped face down on his bed, exhausted. _I need sleep_, he thought to himself. He knew that but he just sat up and reached for his cell phone in his back pocket. He flipped it open and clicked into his gallery.

Takao had a bunch of pictures of that person though it was just sneak shots of him. He clicked into one of them where he was sipping onto his milkshake at Maji Burger with this really serious expression on, then the him in the street light, the him asleep under a tree with a book in hand and left it open on his chest. Takao just smiled at every single picture, remembering about those days when they had the time for each other.

It was not like that person did not send him any pictures of himself though, he does actually, since Takao did it too with every chance he had. That person would send him a picture of his milkshake or maybe a new book that he had been waiting for that he finally was able to buy or a picture of him with that dog who looked exactly like him called Nigou, or Nigou and more Nigou.

_Come to think of it, Tecchan doesn't really send me a picture of him, huh? Thank god I sneaked a few photos of him._ Smiling at the thought, he continued clicking through the pictures and stopped when he saw the one where he sneaked in a picture while Kuroko was kissing his cheek. His face was tinted with light pink, embarrassed because he had to do it in public _(They were at a park and there was no one, but it is a 'public' park.)_, his light blue hair touching Takao's cheek as he did.

Takao touched Kuroko's hair over the screen with his index finger gently. He sighed again as he flipped his cell phone close and buried his face into his knees while his arms hugged his legs tightly against his chest. _How am I supposed to live my life without my charger...?_

He pushed himself up and stepped down from his bed. _I should go take a bath_, he thought, ruffling his dark raven hair.

_I want to see you so much right now._

* * *

><p><strong>AN : Okay, I know I said 'soon', but please forgive me! I have been quite sick lately and just couldn't move from one place... ;_; But here it is! Chapter 2! キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━! I'll start by thanking the people who read the previous chapter, and then the people who finished reading this chapter. I'm really glad that there are actually people reading!( ﾟヮﾟ) And here is the answer to one of the reviews I received for the first chapter! Well you see, I don't really know how long this fanfiction will be actually but I know that the next chapter is definitely not the end of this story. I'll let you know in the chapters when I'm ready to close the story but until then I'll appreciate it if you are willing to stick with me until the end, I really am! The same goes to the others too! Credits to my lovely friend on FFN who provided me ideas of the pictures Takao sneaked of Kuroko! Reviews are always appreciated! And as always, thank you for reading! OWH AND I ALMOST FORGOT, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Please look after me in 2015 too! *bows***

***Bakao : I think many knew about this but I'm just going to explain anyway, Midorima was calling Takao an idiot and his name at the same time. Baka + Takao = Bakao. Get it? *sparkles sparkles***


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost 8PM.

The Seirin basketball team had just finished their practice not long ago and were all at Maji Burger for supper.

"Haa..."

"What is it, Koganei-senpai?"

"Uwah, Kuroko! Since when are you here?!" Koganei jumped from his seat, surprised, dropping his cup of coke in the process. "My coke!" he cried as he watched all his coke go to waste.

Kuroko took a sip from his cup before answering. "Since just now," Kuroko reached into his pocket and took out some money and handed them to Koganei. "Here, I'm so sorry for your coke," When he was about to receive the money from him, Mitobe came from behind and hit Koganei in the head.

"Ow! What was that for, Mitobe?"

"..."

"What?" Koganei rubbed at the spot that Mitobe hit with his palm. "Seniors should not take money from their juniors?" Kuroko, with his straw still in his mouth, stared at them, observing the way they interact with each other. He had always wondered how Koganei could understand what Mitobe was trying to say when he did not even say a single word.

He never heard Mitobe's voice before. Not once. And worse still, he always had that inexpressive face expression on all the time. Not that he could complain because he was the same. Maybe not every time, like Mitobe, Kuroko knew how to smile, feel angry or sad at times. For example, he felt angry when people insulted his friends, sad when he lost a match and happy when he won one. He just did not feel the need to wear any emotions on normal occasions.

Though he knew that he always had a different expression on and not to mention, a feeling in his stomach, like butterflies knocking against its walls when he— Kuroko left his thoughts there as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Placing the cup of vanilla milkshake down on the table, fingers still wrapped around it, he reached for it with his right hand.

He flipped the screen open. It seemed like the reason his phone vibrated was because he just received a message from someone. Without seeing who the sender was, Kuroko clicked into the message and read it.

Bang.

All of Seirin's basketball members even Kagami, who had a half eaten burger in his mouth and another in his hands, turned to look at where the sound came from. It was from the blue haired boy sitting by the window seat with his head lowered, face down. It appeared that Kuroko kicked the chair in front of him with a really strong force, producing a loud sound. He squeezed on his cup of milkshake too hard, causing all of the content in the cup to flow out from the edges of the cup. Kuroko quickly flipped his screen close after realising that he caught everyone's attention.

"Wh-What happened, Kuroko?" asked Koganei, reverting his attention back on him. Kuroko hoped that his misdirection worked at that time. He did not want anyone to look at him at the moment. Grabbing a tissue from the table, he worked on cleaning his hand covered in white foam instead of answering. Thinking that maybe if he did not answer they would just back off.

Oh, and here he thought he was right.

"Whuat ish wong wif you, Kuwokou? (What is wrong with you, Kuroko?)" Kagami said with his mouth full. Kuroko still did not look up nor did he answer. Kagami chewed quickly on his food and swallowed before his next question. And it was a bad one. "What has been up with you recently?"

Kuroko flinched ever so slightly. He knew that people would not have noticed but he could not help but feel that they might have and feel uncomfortable about it.

"Come to think of it, Kuroko has been acting strange lately, huh?" it was the captain talking this time.

"Really?" Kiyoshi asked. "Isn't he always like this?"

"Now I'm pretty sure you're wrong, Kiyoshi," it was Izuki's turn to step into the conversation. "He has been staring into space a lot these days, it's definitely not normal,"

Kagami, who was finally finishing his last burger and the one who brought up this conversation, shot another question at the poor blue haired boy. "So, what is it?"

Kuroko never thought that the day he wished that he had a hole to hide into would come but he did now. Beads of sweat started forming on his forehead, considering it was really cold that day. He did not know what to say. He could not just tell them where his mind was wandering off lately. He could not possibly have. He wanted to keep it as a secret.

He knew it was selfish of him to keep such a thing from them but it was his secret, his privacy to protect. Kuroko was about to open his mouth to say something but Riko barged in.

"You know what?" she said in a sweet voice, making her sound cute. Successfully gaining every Seirin basketball members' attention, they all turned their heads to her. "I'm going to triple up tomorrow's practice. What do you think?" she grinned at them sweetly, hands planted in her hips.

"What?!" everyone exclaimed.

"Wait a minute, coach. Why triple tomorrow's practice?" Hyuuga approached Riko, wanting to know her reason for doing so.

Riko hummed when Hyuuga asked. "Tripling isn't enough? I'll gladly increase it to five times?" still having that devilish smile on her face.

"No!" all of the members shouted except for Kagami. He was just sitting there at his seat, staring at Kuroko with those crimson red eyes of his. Kuroko looked up for a moment and met his eyes. He looked away unconsciously, not wanting to engage any contact from him until everyone officially laid off the subject from a while ago. He directed his gaze at Riko instead who was busy with the other members' attention.

Riko felt someone staring and turned to face Kuroko. She winked at him, a wide grin on her face. She hid her hands behind her back, secretly giving Kuroko a thumbs up as an implication of her being able to handle the commotion in front of her.

Kuroko had to remember to thank the coach later. If it were not for her, who knows what was going to happen if the others knew about it. Noting it down mentally, he continued sipping his leftover milkshake quietly.

* * *

><p>"So what made you kick the chair just now?" Riko asked, walking home side by side with Kuroko, the other guys at the front. She would usually walk in the front, leading the way but she decided to slow down today to question the blue haired boy's unusual behaviour.<p>

Kuroko looked to his right at Riko. "Do you really have to know?" he stopped his feet and moved to her right slowly, keeping her away from the road since it would be dangerous. A very gentleman act from him.

Riko felt her face heat up. What was she thinking? Just because he was being a gentleman to her and she was reacting to it like some immature teenage girl. Though the fact that she _is_ still a teenage girl still remains. And of all people, Kuroko made her feel that way! Not to mention that he was already unavailable. Mentally slapping herself, she answered, "Of course!"

He let out a sigh, looking forward at the other members making a ruckus because Nigou peed on someone's bike. Actually, that seemed serious. He had to go splash some water on it and apologise to the owner. But he ought to reply to the coach's question first. "It was just that I received a message from him,"

"Really? Isn't that a good thing? What did he send this time?"

Without saying anything, he took his cell phone out of his pocket, clicked onto the said message and handed it to Riko. She took it and started reading.

There was not much to read, it was just him saying that he took a shower and how he found out that they were going to have a practice match later this week which thrilled him then there was no more. Nothing. Riko averted her gaze from her screen to Kuroko, cocking a brow at him, confused. _How is this enough to make this expressionless boy have such a huge reaction?_

All Kuroko did was point to the bottom with his index finger, indicating her to continue scrolling down and she did. There was a picture.

It was a picture of Takao, _naked_. Okay, he was half naked but it was because of the way he hung his black towel loosely on his hips, showing his Apollo's Belt that made him seem like he was _naked_. His dark raven hair still wet as droplets threatened to fall from the end . It was clear that he had not dried off properly before taking this picture which only made things worse since it made his well-toned body stood out more as it shone under the light.

Covering her mouth, Riko gasped, remembering to keep it down so that it would not attract any attention. "How bold!" Looking back at Kuroko, he still kept his head up, eyes looking forward but had a difficult expression on. She could even see the colour red creeping up onto his face in the dark. "It was no wonder you reacted like that, if Hyuuga-kun were to— Forget I said that, understand?" she returned him his blue cell phone.

Kuroko nodded as he received it from her. He knew about her relationship with Hyuuga-senpai as she knew about his with Takao. It was like a give and take thing. It helped too, keeping a secret from everyone is tough. Therefore, knowing that he had someone there to listen to about his complaints relieved him.

"But you're so cute! Reacting so much just from a picture like this!" she teased, slapping Kuroko on the back with her palm.

With the back of his hand hovering over his lips, so that it covered part of his face that was as red as a tomato now, he said, "That's because I rarely see them," still looking forward, he was too embarrassed to face Riko right now.

"You say that but don't you always get to see Kagami's? His is extremely well-toned too!"

Kuroko shook his head. "No, it's different,"

"How?"

"I don't know but it is different,"

That answer caused Riko to smile. That felt like what Kuroko would say after all. "Alright, I need to catch up with the guys over there now. Talk to you later! Oh, and I think you should go to Nigou now,"

"Yes," he answered as she patted him a few more times on the back before leaving. He walked to Nigou and the others, taking out his water bottle and poured it over the spot where he peed. He picked him up and bowed at the owner in apology.

When he was about to continue his way back home, Kagami towered over him with his tall figure, glaring down at him. "What is it, Kagami-kun?"

"That's my question to you, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Kuroko tilted his head to the side, not knowing what he was meaning to ask about even though he knew very well what it was.

"You can talk to me," he said as he walked down the sidewalk with Kuroko catching up with him, Nigou in his arms. "You know, about things. Whatever it is,"

That was sudden. For Kagami to stand up and say this to him, relying on him other than just on basketball. It made Kuroko feel happy, he did not know how to explain how happy he was but he just was. "... Kagami-kun, thank you."

"So?"

"But I'm not going to tell you,"

"You—!"

From where Kuroko and Kagami were, they could see something pink over at the convenience store.

Kuroko's eyes widened in surprise. "Momoi-san?"

She turned her body at the mention of her name. Those pink orbs of hers sparkled at the sight of her favourite man in the whole wide world.

"Tetsu-kun—!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN : Okay, chapter 3! Had been working on this for quite a while and I finally finished! As always, thank you to the wonderful people who read the previous chapters and of course, this current one. Also, thank you so much to the people who reviewed. I would very much like to reply but I'm afraid I did not have any time to do so! (Bad excuse there, I know) But just so you know, I wanted to say that I'm really grateful for those reviews and am always motivated every time I receive them from you! THANK YOU. ;_; So as you can see and I hope it's pretty obvious that the story is still not going to end yet! *hearts* And I've decided that it's actually about time I throw Momoi in. Now I have to torture myself to think about the content that she's going to talk about with Kuroko in the next chapter. Wish me luck! Reviews appreciated! Do excuse my grammatical errors as always! Have a nice day! *winks***


	4. Chapter 4

"Why are you here at this time of the night— " Kuroko asked as the pink haired girl ran towards his direction, waving her hand at him. Before he could finish his question, Momoi lunged forward and hugged him, causing Kuroko to fall backwards on his behind. Nigou jumped off from Kuroko's arms to Kagami's, making Kagami flinch, his hair stood up like a cat's. He held onto Nigou tight so that he does not fall off even though he did not like it.

"Tetsu-kun! Tetsu-kun—!" She said loudly, nuzzling into Kuroko's chest as she took in his scent. _Smelling like vanilla as always! _She apologised immediately when she heard Kuroko said 'ouch'. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Tetsu-kun! Are you okay?" Checking if he had any injury, she asked, her pink orbs shone with tears.

"No, I'm fine, Momoi-san," He assured, patting her head as a gesture to tell her to not worry. See? This was why she loved this man so much. Like, who would not want to get married with this man and be happy for the rest of their lives? _He's gentle, kind, nice, has a sense of humor (though weird), considerate, etcetera._ Oh, how she loved Tetsu-kun.

His hand still on her head, he started stroking it as he asked his unfinished question. "So, why are you out here at this time of the night without anyone escorting you?" _She likes it a lot when he does that._

"Listen to this, Tetsu-kun!" Kuroko nodded. "So, Dai-chan called me through my phone just now. He said it was something important and he needed me to come over to the convenience store immediately. I went and guess what he wanted from me?!" Kuroko only shook his head.

"He asked me to pay for his Mai-chan magazine! Could you believe that?!"

"Mai-chan? The one that he usually reads?"

"Yeah!" She tightened her arms around Kuroko, burying her face in his chest. "That's why you're the best, Tetsu-kun! You would never do that to me, right?"

"Of course not," She looked up at him and saw one of his rare smiles. She thought she was about to faint there. "Where is Aomine-kun now?"

Momoi pointed back at the convenience store. "He said he still wanted to stay there for a bit, reading some of the magazines I refuse to pay for,"

"So you're going to walk home alone?"

She nodded as a reply, flashing a smile at him while letting go of him. She stood up and so did Kuroko. "I'll walk you home," he said, picking up his bag that fell onto the ground when she attacked him.

"Eh?! Really?" Her eyes sparkled once again in anticipation.

"Yes," He replied and turned to retrieve Nigou from Kagami. "Thank you, Kagami-kun,"

"Hey—" Kagami called after Kuroko who was ready to walk Momoi home. "About the thing you could talk to me, I'm always available. So—"

Kuroko smiled at him with gratitude, he always knew Kagami was a good guy. He just never really showed it and when he does, it touched him a lot. "Yes," was the only reply he gave to him and walked back to Momoi's side with Nigou in his arms.

As they were walking away from him, Momoi glanced back at Kagami to find him still standing there, his gaze was directed at Kuroko's back. Noticing that he was being stared at the pink haired girl, he quickly turned his head away, his face slightly flushed. "Wait here for a moment, Tetsu-kun!" she said as she flashed a bright smile at him, skipping towards Kagami.

He looked confused when she stopped right in front of him. "Hey, Kagamin!"

"What do you want? And what's with that 'Kagamin'?!"

Humming, she asked, "Do you like Tetsu-kun?"

"Idi— What are you saying?! That's stupid!" He shouted as he glanced over at Kuroko who was waiting for Momoi from a distance patiently. Without looking Momoi into her eyes, he muttered, "... Of course I like him," Though he quickly added more to the sentence, "But that's only because we're in a team, alright?! It would be weird to play basketball with a person you hate after all, don't get the wrong idea!"

The way he tried to cover up for himself amused Momoi so much that it made her giggle. "Thank you, Kagamin," she said after giggling and smiled at Kagami gently.

Her smile only made him blush even more than just now. Momoi was said to be a beauty after all. "For what?" the red head asked.

"For taking care of Tetsu-kun. Well, I shouldn't let Tetsu-kun wait any longer, let's talk more next time! Bye bye, Kagamin!" she waved at him and went back to Kuroko, leaving Kagami with his face the colour of his hair.

Kuroko bent his body a little at Kagami, indicating that he was going to take his leave for real when Momoi was by his side again, being polite like always. "What were you and Kagami-kun talking about just now?" he asked when they started their way to Momoi's.

"Oh, it's nothing!"

They talked about various things like how was life at school, how was practice, what had they been doing and something related to Nigou and then they both went quiet. To be exact, it was Momoi who quieted down. It was not like her to do so, she who talks non-stop at all times (well, except for times when people needs their own space, aside from that, you know.) being quiet all of a sudden?

Kuroko did not want to impose too much into her privacy and thus he only walked beside her silently. When they finally reached Momoi's front door, Kuroko bade her goodbye and told her to have a good night while bowing his body a little. He turned to walk away but before he could go any further, he felt a force pulling onto his sleeves. It was her doing.

"What is it, Momoi-san?"

"Tetsu-kun, are you still with him?"

His blue eyes widened in surprise. He was not expecting her to ask that question because she had been avoiding this topic ever since she first found out about it. Maybe people would not believe it if he were to say this to them but he does care about Momoi, a lot actually. Like if she was sad, he would want to be by her side and cheer her up, laughing and smiling as she shared about happy things happening around her, listen to her rant about her problems when she was angry, so on and forth.

He wanted to be there for her but he just did not think of Momoi the same way she did to him, he only thought of her as a sister if he had one. The only one he had ever felt for was Takao and only him. It saddened him for not being able to answer to her feelings. "... Yes," the word came out of Kuroko's lips easier than expected after he took a deep breath before answering.

"I see," Momoi grabbed onto his sleeves tightly, afraid that he might disappear if she did not do that.

Kuroko really thought that she was about to burst out crying as he saw her pink orbs flashed a little, tears welling up in her eyes but he was wrong. She looked up into his eyes, sniffed a little and flashed a smile at him, holding in her tears but failed. He put Nigou down and moved forward to cup her face in his hands, wiping away the tears that were now rolling down her cheeks with his thumbs.

"Why are you crying and smiling at the same time?" He asked softly, it must have been really hard for her. It would be better if she cried then he would not feel confused and sadder. "I'm sorry," was all he felt he could say at that moment.

Momoi let go of his sleeves and grabbed onto his hands which were busy helping her clean her face instead. She still had a smile plastered on her face. "No, Tetsu-kun," She sniffed. "You got it all wrong,"

"What is?"

"These are tears of joy," she said, her thumbs rubbing Kuroko's hands, flashing her teeth at him. "I'm happy for you, I really am,"

"Then why are you only bringing this up now?"

"That was because I needed some time to let it process and digest properly in my mind," Leaning her face into his right hand, sighing with relief, she added, "And the product I got after all those processing was as long as Tetsu-kun is happy then I am too. Oh, and just like what Kagamin said just now, you can talk to me too, about him especially since you always had to keep it to yourself!"

As expected of Momoi, always giving Kuroko a hard time to read her, shocking or surprising him every time. He smiled at her. Just as he thought, she was precious to him. "Thank you, Momoi-san,"

After he thanked her, she finally let out all the tears she had been trying really hard to hold in, wailing in front of her house, shocking him. Her parents rushed out from the front door to find their daughter wrapping her arms around Kuroko's body, making him feel troubled. They had to pry her away from him and it was not easy.

He patted her head one last time for the night and told her to go to sleep and tuck in under the blankets properly since it was really cold tonight so she would not catch a cold. She nodded to everything he told her to do while wiping away tears, hiccupping 'un's at the same time. Kuroko then apologised to her parents for making her cry and had her stand outside in the cold for so long, grabbed Nigou and left.

* * *

><p>On his way back home, he thought about what Momoi said. 'As long as he was happy,' she said but he was not sure if he is. He had been feeling sad and miserable for a while now and the feeling was not gone yet. And to worsen it up, he felt lonely too.<p>

He craned his neck up and looked up into the night sky, his breath visible as he breathed out. _I want to see Takao-kun._ Not through photos though, he wanted to see a Takao standing in front of him, cupping his face like what he did to Momoi's just now, showering him with kisses on the lips or on his cheeks, whispering disgusting sweet nothings into his ears like he always did when they still had time for each other.

Lowering his head slowly so he could focus on where he was heading, he sighed. _How long do they need to wait? Two more days until the practice match starts?_ He took out his cell phone to look at the photos Takao sent him. _He'll have to do with the pictures for two more days and then he could finally meet him._

"Two more days," He said out loud to himself.

_I can do it, it's just two more days._

* * *

><p><strong>AN : Hi, it's been a while! I'm going to start off by apologising if this chapter does not seem interesting to you since it's like a filler chapter? It's a TakaKuro thing but I inserted a slight KagaKuro here like what I did with my previous work. Thank you for reading and I'm sorry for always updating really slowly! So I have Momoi out of the way now, might throw her in again once in a while but yeah! Here it is, chapter 4! Once again, reviews appreciated! Excuse me if you noticed any grammatical errors here and there! Good day! **


	5. Special : Valentine's

_I failed._

The smell of burnt food could be smelled if one enters the kitchen at this instance, though it was not any normal food. It was a chocolate. Why was a chocolate suddenly dragged into this? Well, that was because Valentine's Day was tomorrow and there stood a blue haired boy in a light blue apron with a picture of a white rabbit in the middle of it. _(It actually belongs to Kagami.)_

Kuroko Tetsuya was currently on a mission on learning of how to make sweets. He was holding onto the handle of a pot with burnt half-finished chocolate in it. The appearance did not seem bad at all since chocolates were dark in colour in the first place but he could not bring himself to give it to someone as a gift. Frowning, he set the pot aside and rolled up his sleeves.

"Oi," He heard someone come closer to him from behind. Before he could react, the person grabbed onto his head, stopping him from proceeding with his work.

"What is it, Kagami-kun?"

Kagami glared down at him with his crimson red eyes, let Kuroko correct that, _looked_ down at him since they have a really huge height difference. "How many times do I have to tell you to keep the temperature below the boiling point?"

Yes, this tall annoyed red head was here to help out because Kuroko forced him to. (By chasing him around the school grounds with Nigou in hand.) "You have to stir it gently when you're heating it too, why is it so hard for you to do so?" He said then muttered, "Ah, there goes the raw materials..." to himself.

"I can't read temperatures without a thermometer, neither can I stir because it's tiring," Kuroko made up excuses as he tried to pry Kagami's hand away from his head because it hurt. The grip on his head loosened and he thought he was free but Kagami slapped Kuroko on the back of his head, causing him to jerk forward, eyes widened in shock.

"Here's the candy thermometer to gauge the temperature," He picked it up by the stove and put it in front of Kuroko. "Turn the fire down when you notice the temperature increasing in a high pace. And if you're not going to do it properly then don't force me into helping you with it!" Kagami scolded as he got dumped the burnt chocolate into the trashcan.

Kuroko rubbed the back of his head before returning to what he was doing. He was mixing cocoa powder and softened butter in a bowl, trying his best to get rid of lumps but then got distracted when Kagami suddenly spoke up.

"Why did you want to make chocolate all of a suddenly?"

It was a good question. Kuroko would not blame him for asking that. It seemed out of his character after all, to say that he wanted to make some. "There's no special reason to it, I thought I wanted to make some for the captain and the others," _And for him too. _Of course Kuroko was not going to tell Kagami that, he did not want to be questioned about it.

_It's a secret after all._

"And you're going through all this trouble for them?" The red head sighed, frustrated. "You could have just bought them at a convenience store or something, maybe a chocolate bar,"

That sounded a lot like what Kuroko and Kagami would do but still. "No, I still don't think that's a good idea," Since he could give them any time on any day, so why choose Valentine's to be the day for him to give them chocolate bars? "The effort is the most important part after all,"

"But if you're giving something like what the coach would give then I doubt they would accept them though," Kuroko was really impressed by Kagami. He wondered how he could talk and pour the chocolate mixture that he made into containers with various shapes. If Kuroko did that, he would either overspill it or would stop in the middle of his sentences.

"Then I would force them to take it,"

"How?"

"... Stuff it in their faces," Kuroko said after a long pause. It sounded more like a question than a statement and it terrified Kagami a lot.

They worked in silence for a while after that. Kuroko finally took the effort to stir the cocoa powder mix in the hot water. It came out better than just now and it made him really happy though he did not show it. When he was ready to stir the sugar mixture he added after he poured the hot cocoa mix into a bowl, he noticed Kagami made heart shaped chocolates.

"Kagami-kun,"

"Yeah?" He looked up at the boy and replied.

"Do you have someone that you like?" Kuroko asked and he heard clanging after that when the spatula that Kagami was holding on to fell onto the ground. He saw how red his light's face turned into and realised that he does have one. _Why didn't he know?_ He was such an obvious person, showing all of his secrets like he was wearing them on the outside all the time. He should have noticed.

Though he was not one to say. He himself kept a secret from not only his best friend but everyone else too. The blue haired boy looked away for a moment in guilt and looked back to see Kagami pushing his hair to the back with his fingers, his face still red, Kuroko could feel frustration from him.

"Are you an idiot?" Was his first sentence to him. "I can't believe it— Never mind," He sounded really angry at first but then sighed in relief after he calmed down.

"So who is she?" Still curious, Kuroko decided to continue pursuing for an answer.

"It's a secret,"

A few hours passed, Kuroko did his _bestest _with his chocolate and there was results.

"It's done," Kuroko breathed out, he heard Kagami shuffling his way to him.

He looked over his shoulder to have a look at his work. The chocolate were shaped into little balls and rectangles. They were all wrapped properly with translucent wrapping paper neatly, it was so Kuroko-ish. "I can't believe that you've done it," He patted Kuroko on the back. "See? You could have done it earlier if you actually made the effort!"

There was a box with light blue ribbon tied around it beside the others. Kagami reached out to check the chocolate inside. "What's this? Why is this the only one different from the others?" It seemed fancier than the others. Before he could reach for it, Kuroko snatched it away quickly.

His actions surprised Kagami. Kuroko gasped before he quickly added, "I checked this one already, so you don't have to go through the trouble to open the wrappings to check it again," He took a deep breath. "It's okay, thank you,"

The red head eyed him for a few seconds, trying to make out the reason why he was all so panicky but gave up after a while. "Well, if you say so. It's a pain to wrap it back again since you've already wrapped it nicely,"

Kuroko let out the breath that he had been holding in for a while. _That was close._

* * *

><p>It was the 14th today. Takao looked up into the winter February sky as he sat on a bench at the park far away from his school, both of his hands were placed on the space in between in his thighs as he leaned his body forward, his breath visible in the cold air.<p>

Not that he had school today, it was actually a Sunday. There was no school, and surprisingly the coach had a date today and told them to not come for practice. Takao laughed a little too hard after that. To imagine him having a date? It was so hard. He chuckled at the thought again, holding onto his sides since it still hurt from all the laughing.

"Valentine's huh...?" Takao said, to no one in particular. He was outside, alone, on Valentine's. It sounded so sad but he was not. That was because he was actually waiting for someone, the one and only one for him.

And speaking of the devil, Takao could already see him from afar, blending into the crowd like always. He rested his chin on his hand, elbow on his knee, and just stared at the blue 'thing' trying to make his way out of it. It was so cute, when he was helpless and all, Takao believed that it could cure anything in the world. Well, at least it would only work on him.

After the boy finally made his way out of the crowd, he whipped his body around, looking for someone. When he saw Takao, he paused for a moment, tugged onto the strap of his bag and jogged towards him. Palming his face to cover it, Takao tried to hide the smile behind his hand. It would be bad if kids who passed by saw it since it might be really disgusting at that time.

"Takao-kun," The boy called out to him, stopping his feet in front of him. He was panting. Takao wondered if he ran here all the way from the train station which was quite a distance from here.

Removing his hand from his face, he looked up at the boy from his seat. "Tecchan!" Grinning, he stretched his arms forward, inviting him to get closer.

Kuroko obeyed and took a step forward. Takao circled them around Kuroko's waist and pulled him closer. Once he had a good hold of him, he wrapped his arms tightly around him, burying his face into his clothes. "I've missed you," he said, his voice muffled. "A lot," he added as he nuzzled into Kuroko's sweater.

He felt pressure on his head. It was him. His hands were on his head, stroking his hair gently, whispering a "Me too," back to him. Kuroko bent his body a little then kissed Takao's hair lightly, breathing in his scent at the same time. Takao did the same. Still smelling like vanilla even after so long.

Amazingly, Seirin's coach, Riko-san, decided to let them off today as well. From what he heard from Kuroko, it seemed she herself had a date with the captain. It had been a while since they've met and to think that Valentine's was such a good opportunity.

He hoped it was Valentine's everyday then.

It always felt good to have Kuroko stroke his hair. He loved it. It made him feel like it was okay to fall asleep even though it was not the appropriate place to do so. Breathing steadily, he rubbed his face against Kuroko again, sighing in content, feeling at peace like he was back to where he belonged. Though it did not last for long as Kuroko stopped stroking him, and removed his hands to place them on Takao's shoulder to push him away.

"Takao-kun, we're in public," he said, as he looked around him, worried that people would see them.

Refusing to let go, Takao pulled onto him, now resting his chin on Kuroko's stomach, looking up at him, he pouted. "So? I'm not letting you go. Never. Not today," he did not see why he had to be aware of the public today. It was Valentine's, the other couples would be so mesmerised by each other they would not have the time to even bat an eye at them.

"People we know might be here," the blue haired boy tried reasoning with him, his hands were back on Takao's head again, causing Takao to relax again. "It's a secret, remember?"

He sighed. "But we even made our way out here which was like a few stations away from our school?" The raven haired boy really did not want to keep this secret anymore but he respects Kuroko. Respecting him meant that he had to respect his decisions too but it was so hard to keep things up like this. "We're really far away from them today so why can't we just act like normal couples for once?"

Kuroko's expression changed instantly, he was troubled by the suggestion, by him. Worry, anxiety were all mixed in it too. It pained Takao to see him like this. He would protect this boy from everything in this world if it meant that he would not wear that expression ever.

He loosened his grip around Kuroko, very, very, slowly. Takao did not like it, but he would do anything for him. Lowering his head like a child who did something wrong, feeling guilty, he apologised. "I'm sorry,"

This time it was Kuroko's turn to feel bad. The ever-so-energetic Takao suddenly quieted down. Who would feel comfortable with that?

As Takao slid his arms away from him, Kuroko managed to grab one of his hand, causing Takao to flinch since he was not expecting that from him. He tried to get a proper hold on it and just held on to it, moving it from the left to the right lightly. "I'm sorry," it was his turn to apologise this time. "Even though it's Valentine's,"

Takao, still on his seat, craned his head up to take a good look at Kuroko. "I'm happy," he said as he held his hand to his lips and kissed it gently, his eyes closed. "As long as you are," he glanced back up at him with his silvery blue eyes, finishing his sentence.

_A blushing Kuroko is the best._ This was what Takao always said that to himself and the real one was standing in front of him.

"Oh yeah," Kuroko said, he removed his hands from Takao's and reached into his bag. There was a box in his hand when it was out of his bag. He held it with both of his hands and handed it to Takao.

"What's this?" He asked with his eyes widened as he received it from him.

"It's Valentine's, so I brought chocolate for you,"

"Bought from the convenience store?"

"I made it myself," The blue haired boy said. You could actually hear how proud and satisfied he is with himself if you were observant enough.

"Is it edible?" Takao questioned, opening the box as he chuckled softly. He was really happy. To think that he would make the effort to make him chocolate. He felt like he was the happiest man on earth at that moment.

"Of course it is, I had Kagami-kun to teach me how and then I did it without his help after that," He told him, mentioning Kagami's name along the way to assure Takao that it was edible. Kagami was a really good cook after all. "I made the chocolate from scratch too—"

Takao had been silent after he opened the box as Kuroko explained about his chocolate. He was trying to hide the blush creeping onto his face. The chocolate he got from him was heart-shaped or so it seemed like a heart. It was so badly shaped that it made him want to laugh real badly. The most important part of all was the message he wrote on the chocolate. There were only three words and it was enough to destroy him. It was so cute.

He did not care anymore. He did not care if someone sees them. He could just give a really good explanation after that, he was extremely good at it after all.

"I failed for a few times but I was able to succeed—" Kuroko was not able to finish his sentence since Takao pulled him down for a kiss.

He was shocked by it and was trying to fight back, wanting to stop him but failed when Takao bit on his bottom lip, asking for permission to explore his mouth. Instead of struggling out of his grasp, he gave in and cupped Takao's face in his hands, returning the kiss.

Takao was grateful when Kuroko gave him access into his mouth and took in everything he could get from it. He broke the kiss a few times and kissed him back again to make sure that his Tecchan got to breathe. And each time he did that, he got to hear Kuroko moan his name softly, careful to not distract other people's attention.

He finally decided to really break the kiss but was still really reluctant as he did, planting soft kisses on his now swollen lips, whispering 'I love you's between them. He stopped kissing him but Kuroko was still placing kisses on his cheeks for a while.

They both stared at each other for a while then Takao broke into a grin and hugged Kuroko again.

"Happy Valentine's!"

* * *

><p>~おまけ~<p>

Kagami looked down at the pink striped paper bag that he was holding in hand. It was all sparkly and had ribbons in the middle of it, to describe its overall, it was extremely girly. Not the type that Kagami would want to even touch but for the sake of that person, he had to.

He asked her out and she agreed, surprisingly enough. He was nervous though. What would he do if he rejected this stupid pink paper bag? Then he would have to bring it back home and do nothing with it. He would feel reluctant to throw it away after all since he spent so much time on it. Choosing the perfect bag, wrapping paper, right materials for the content.

The content, turned out to be a chocolate. It was Valentine's, he made it with Kuroko the night before and it turned out okay and he just thought that he should make some for her since he was already making them already. And here he was, standing under the town's clock, waiting for her to appear.

Kagami was being extremely self-conscious too. He kept trying to fix his hair, his clothes, pants and checked if his shoelaces were properly tied. He was looking into his own reflection in the water fountain beside the clock, fixing his hair into different styles.

"Kagamin...?" A cute, feminine voice could be heard from behind him.

He flinched at it and jumped, shouting as he did. "Mo-Momoi?! Why are you here?!"

She glared at him and puffed her cheeks. "What do you mean by 'why am I here'?! You were the one who told me to come out on Valentine's, didn't you?!"

"But it's still early, like an hour early from the promised time!"

"Then why are you here?!"

"Th-That's because I can't have you waiting if you came early—"

"If you had the thought of me coming early then why are you so shocked at the fact that I'm here now?!"

"It's because I was not mentally and physically prepared!"

They both shouted at each other for a long period of time, questions and answers shooting from here and there at each other.

"Aaaahhhh—! Seriously! Here!" He pulled her hand and opened her palm, placing the pink bag on it. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

She stared at it, confused. "What is this?"

"I-I made extras, thought I'd give it to you. Be grateful!"

Still staring at it, she blushed. A reaction that Kagami did not see coming. The next thing that happened was her jumping onto him, arms around his neck. Kagami had to hold onto her waist so that things would not happen to her if she let go suddenly.

"Thank you, Kagamin!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN : Hi! I doubt anyone was actually expecting a special chapter from me and I never expect myself to be able to write/post it on time since I have really bad time management.I was actually suggested from my friend to do this and I actually planned to do it before but never got myself to do it on Christmas so here it is! I hope you guys like it, really, I really do. By the way, this is just a special chapter for a reason. It does not mean that they've met each other in the main story! Thank you for readng, like always. Reviews appreciated, even though I can't/didn't reply you, I still read them. Thank you! Happy Valentine's!**


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